One Million Pissed Off Women Not Safe Space For Differently Abled

Until Tuesday, I was a member of One Million Pissed Off Women, a anti-misogyny, anti-homophobia, and anti-racism group on Facebook. I thought it was a really great group of women, and the page posts a lot of interesting news links and activism opportunities.

Well.

In reaction to North Carolina’s passage of Amendment One, that will enshrine homophobia into the state’s constitution, one of the admins posted a status using an ableist slur referring to the people who voted for the measure. Many of us took exception to this, because hello, comparing people with developmental disabilities to homophobic bigots is not cool.

The admin reacted badly, to say the least, as did many members. The usual defenses were used, “well, they are stupid,” “I’m not discriminating!” “it doesn’t mean [the general accepted definition of the slur], it means this!” The thread quickly degenerated. The admin posted another status, trying to justify her ableism, and frame those of us angry at her bigotry as meanies out to spoil her fun. Needless to say, that thread degenerated quickly as well.

Soon, I no longer recognized the feminist page that I joined months ago. It resembled more a hate-fest on a tea party page. Seriously, it was nasty. Use your own judgment before you click the links–many of the commenters were vile. After posting several comments, I decided to leave the group.

I wasn’t the only one. Others posted of their intention to leave the group.

One poster commented on the page’s wall, saying:

“”Racism, sexism and homophobia are not permitted in this area.” …But saying [slur redacted]–totally acceptable!”

The admin responded thusly: “yep!”

Because of the nature of Facebook, the ugliness will be buried in the group’s timeline…until the next time someone throws out an ableist slur, of course. But differently abled feminists (and decent people in general) should know:

One Million Pissed Off Women is not a welcoming space for us.

 

President Obama Has Evolved

President Obama announced that he is in favor of equal marriage rights yesterday.

You know, I wish I could say that I’m happy, or excited, or even relieved. When I heard the news, my reaction was basically “Really? Finally. Now, where’s my kindle?”

I am glad he’s come out in support of equality. It does make me happy for my LGBT friends, loved ones, and allies.

It doesn’t ring hollow to me, as it has for some. I don’t believe this will negatively affect his reelection chances. Nor does it strike me as a political gambit, as it has for some.

I just feel as if he should have done this years ago. At the very least, he should have done this before North Carolina voted on Amendment One.

So, President Obama is in favor of marriage equality for LGBT Americans. Good. Now let’s get to work.

Blog Note: Hello!

I’m back!

The past several weeks have been exhausting. After several days in a row of going through the day fully intending to post, but not, I decided to take a break. I even stopped obsessively checking my Stats page! (For those who don’t blog, this is a very Big Deal.) I hadn’t planned on making today The Day, but after mentally composing about five posts, I realized that I’ve missed writing, and decided to sit down and tap these posts out before I lose them.

Here’s what’s been going on:

In a stroke of very good luck, things got very busy at work soon after my accident, and so I have had the opportunity to work overtime. For the past few weeks, an eight-hour work day has been a rare and strangely short thing. This has contributed to my exhaustion in a big way, hence my absence.Things still haven’t slowed down, so I plan on taking advantage of the extra cash every chance I can get. That will mean I won’t immediately be posting at my normal pace.

Physically, all of my injuries have healed. My bruises are long gone. My ribs–I’m pretty sure I actually broke, or at least cracked a couple–are feeling much better. Once the swelling went down, I realized I’d also broken a finger. ’twas a shock to me–I’ve been able to use it 100% the entire time. But its healed, albeit awkwardly. (I think. It doesn’t smart like hell when I knock against something, so I’ll take it.)

The huge weight that was hanging over my shoulders–money–has largely lifted. I worked my tailbone off, and thanks to Papa Beemer feeding me, and a coworker giving me rides to and from work, I was able to buy a new (to me) car. It’s not as old as Trouble (as my old car was affectionately dubbed), but it has its own quirks. I can handle those. As for my other financial woes, I will use my overtime cash to slowly pay those off. In a couple of months, I will have Trouble paid off as well. The worry from this was wearing me out–it feels wonderful to have that gone.

I wish I could say I’ve been using the time I would have been writing to sleep–but no. If you follow me on Twitter (if you don’t, you should.) you know that I’m a Trekkie. I’ve been making my way through Star Trek: Voyager. Since I wasn’t writing, of course I had time to watch more Voyager! More Captain Janeway!  So I did. I finished the series a few days ago, and I’ve felt stranded (te he) ever since. Then did I sleep? Pshaw. Of course not. (I will never learn.) Naturally, I’ve been reading. And I’ve read some very good books, people, let me tell you. Look for a post or two on those soon.

I have a new project in the works! If you remember, last summer I helped put on the Hello Summer Festival. I had a lot of fun, and the festival was a success. Jared approached me again a couple of weeks ago, and asked for my help for another project. It’s much bigger, and much more ambitious–a fall festival, with music, activities, more local art. The festival is in the very early planning stages now, but it’s going to be awesome. We’re hoping to make the festival a fundraiser for an AIDS prevention organization (I won’t say which one yet, since we haven’t confirmed anything). I’ll be taking a bigger role this year, it looks like. I’m really excited about this–so look for posts in the future as the festival begins to take form.

So. What have you been up to lately?

 

Feminism: It’s a Way of Life

Tonight, at work, a supervisor from another department came over and was chatting with us. He kept referring to us as “girls.”

Oi, I thought.

Finally after the third, fourth, or fifth time, I responded:

“Girls?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Ladies. Is that better?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

And that was that.

At “lunch,” another coworker and I were trying to figure out where to eat. He suggested Wendy’s or McDonald’s.

“I can’t eat at McDonald’s.”

So we went to Wendy’s.

I’ve been boycotting McDonald’s ever since the company blamed an employee for being sexually assaulted.

Every day, I live out my principles. Sometimes I fuck up. But I’m always aware, and I always try to do better. And I’m not an anomaly.

Feminism is not a girl’s club. It’s not about hate, or bitterness. It’s a value system.